Friday, July 1, 2011

Mega Man #3 Reviewed

If you're still on the fence about jumping into Archie's Mega Man comic series, perhaps you'd be wise to check out Steven Chase's review for issue #3. Mr. Chase has written up a fine review of the second to last issue in the "Let the Games Begin" arc at his website, highlighting the many aspects that make the issue one of the best thus far. A select portion of his review below:

"Starting as the just hero we know him as, Mega Man travels through darkness in two familiar forms–doubt and greed–until he is able to recover the light (thanks to a good father-son chat with Dr. Light, and a comedic scolding from Roll). And with this, Mega Man re-emerges as a hero. It’s truly fascinating to realize that after 25 years of Mega Busting, not once has this iconic video-game hero been given as much character as he has in the last 96 pages. It’s obvious why Archie has been so successful for nearly two decades with the Sonic franchise, and it fills me with indescribable joy to see the same happening to Mega Man."

With only three issues under their belt, Archie has done a satisfying job at translating these beloved characters and events into comic-book format. The future certainly looks bright for this comic venture!

10 comments:

I'll give a good job given they have only four issues per story arc due to corporate mandate...

But "satisfying job at translating these beloved characters and events into comic-book format" I must however dissent with as having the robot masters as glorified canon fodder is not. Now I'm not saying each Robot Master needs an issue to themselves but really three pages a robot master with the third of them being defeated?

I'm still hopeful for the series however but I've significantly toned down my expectations.

Honestly, I feel like Ian Flynn doesn't really get Megaman, I haven't read any issues yet, but from these previews, he seems way too confident and eager to fight, which shouldn't be how Megaman acts at all :/

@Anon2: Then you SHOULD read the comics. If anything, Mega Man is the exact opposite of eager to fight, and you'd see that if you were reading these issues. He doesn't like that he's been having to go about and taking down other robots, especially ones that he considers innocent robots that were reprogrammed against their will by Dr. Wily. I feel that Ian Flynn gets Mega Man perfectly well.

And for those upset over the lack of screen time for the Robot Masters... This is Mega Man's comic. It's silly to imagine dedicating time to characterize the bosses in the first three issues. We already know they'll be assisting Mega Man against the Powered Up bosses in issue 6 so they will likely get the attention they deserve. And remember... The length of an issue is probably only the third of a standard manga chapter. That's SHORT. Give the series some time to develop. For only three issues they're doing a hell of a job.

That would be a valid point and all, but with corporate mandate of four issue story arcs they'd have to shove eight Robot Masters in subsequent arcs in the future. Ones that aren't going to be around for future characterization and will die just as fast, if not faster.

To echo Steven's opinion, you must consider this series lucky to have 4 issues to tell the whole story of the first game. As I said on another site, if Archie tried to have this made in the 90s alongside Sonic, I guarantee you they would have had only 3 issues to tell it and that's it. So if you think THIS story arc feels rushed, imagine how much more it could've been.